Dróth’s last-second heroics hand Hungary a place at the Euros – Photos, Videos

Hungary qualified for the 2016 Futsal European Championships in Serbia in sensational style yesterday by coming back to defeat Romania 4-3 on the night and 6-5 on aggregate thanks to a last-second winner from Zoltán Dróth.

Dróth’s striking partner Ákos Harnish had opened the scoring for Hungary as early as the 3rd minute with a neat finish from a half-cleared corner but he was sent off for handball inside the penalty area in the 24th minute and the resulting penalty was dispatched confidently by Romania’s Florin Matei. He then scored again to give the visitors the lead on aggregate, only for Ádám Hosszú to knock in Dróth’s pass at the back post and take the game into extra-time. Matei scored a third early on in the first period but just as it seemed that the tie had been all but decided, Dróth took centre-stage, first scoring with a low shot from 12 metres from Norbert Öreglaki’s sideways pass before heading in Norbert Öreglaki’s hopeful long-ball in the very last second of the match to spark wild celebrations amongst the players and a raucous crowd of 3,573 fans.

Sito Rivera, Hungary head coach:

I know how important this victory is to the Hungarian fans! My players fought til the end, they didn’t give up the struggle and there’s no better way to win this two-legged tie. We worked and practised so hard in these last few weeks – the players tried everything to bring this out on the pitch in these two matches and in every way we deserved this victory today. I have been a coach for thirty years and have seen these kinds of last-second winners before – this can happen in futsal. Even with six seconds to go and the ball in your defensive half you still have a chance, so I still believed something could happen.